Michael Reese Meyers.Net (The Official Website): April 2012

Hey fans, Mike here. Quick blog update. We are done recording the new Chants of Reign album. We cannot wait for you all to hear this new album. We experimented a lot with so many new sounds, ranging from reggae to trance to dubstep and of course the cinematech and soft indie rock sound you all loved from the first album. This album is a journey. I went in just wanting to make a happy love album but love has its ups and downs and first you must get over the past. The album is titled "The Epic Mysterious Journey Between Melancoly and Eutopia". That means the long hard and complicated journey one goes from sadness to happiness. Loneliness to love. That is what this album is and each song from start to finish in order tells a story starting with the first 7 songs being me trying to get over someone (guess who lol) and the next 10 songs about moving on and finding new love. There are positive happy songs, sad songs, uplifting songs, optimistic songs, dance songs, love songs, and many songs about moving on and letting go. There will be 4 bonus tracks at the end of the album (two of which are remixes of other songs on the album, one is a cover of a famous Fleetwood Mac song, and one is just another bonus track)

Here is the track list:

1) The Rain is Gone (Intro) *Cinematech*Indie Rock*

-very brief minute long cinematech mini song written by me and Alan that symbolizes the dark depression of the last album is gone. the skies have opened. the sun is out. a new day has begun. the melody somehow switches into a famous song we all know and love before fading away...

2) Can You Save Me From Myself? *Soft Rock*Cinematech*

-one of my favorites on the album. deepest lyrics of any song. written by me, Alan, and Sting's son Gotye, who also produced it. Great chants, harmonies and piano with a cinematech meets Elton John sound. "And you gave me love when I could not love myself" is a good line in the song. It's about being with a girl who is trying her best to love you but you're still not over the past and still can't fight your depression.

3) Somebody That I Used To Love (Featuring Katy Perry) *80's Influenced Soft Rock*

-written by me and Gotye and Katy Perry and produced by him as well. Emotional song with a unique 80's vintage Sting/The Police sound. Another song about not being over your ex and how it is ruining your current relationship, although this time the girl gets to sing her perspective. Great catchy chorus. "You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness" is my fave line in the song.

4) Why'd You Go? *British Influenced Hip Hop/R&B/Pop*

-Awesome vibe to this track. Arguably my favorite song on the album. Might be the second single. Written by me and James and Alan and produced by British hip hop producer Wretch 32. I actually RAP here. Funky rock meets R&B sound with a great Lily Allen sample in the background that our genius DJ James Blaine came up with. This is the only song that addresses Mel by name but yes it is about her. Not an angry song but a song that dissects our relationship from the good to the bad. I never got to respond to the track she made so this is it. A few jabs are thrown but as the chorus shows ("don't go, don't leave, please stay, with me. you are, the only thing I need, to get by, to get by"), my love for her outweighed the hate. This song just makes me think of being alone in your apartment at night looking out the window wondering what could have been.

5) Stay Stay Stay (In My Arms) *Reggae/Pop Rock*

-Reggae track baby! Gotye, Alan, and I co-wrote this and Leion the Damager produced it. It's about a couple who fight a lot but still stay together because they love each other too much and they just have a volatile and combative dynamic. They love to hurt each other and cannot live without each other.

6) Tattoo *Pop/R&B/Dance*

-Great bouncy pop/R&B dance track with a hint of rock edge. Black Eyed Peas' Will.I.Am produced it. I wrote it with British pop artist Taio Cruz. It's about noticing a girl and how fly and sexy she is and how she is "under your skin" like a tattoo.

7) Bring Her Back To Me *Neo-Soul Funk Techno*

-Probably the most R&B and experimental song on the album. Love the sound of this track. It's about loving a girl who is difficult to tame but you miss her and want her back. I wrote it with Alan, James, and R&B star Frank Ocean. Frank and Ryan Leslie produced it.

8) Out The Blue *Dubstep/Trance*

-Dubstep trance track. Mostly an instrumental produced by James with a cool sample from Australian singer Angelika's "It Takes Two" song with me singing a few adlibs over it. This marks a turning point in the album and the story the album is telling. It is about how right when you think there is no hope, love can come out of nowhere, right out of the blue. Great piano and instrumentation. Epic track that will uplift everyone!

9) Lightning *Top 40 style Indie Rock*

-The first single. I co-wrote this with one of my musical heroes, Stephen Jenkins, lead singer of Third Eye Blind. He also produced it. It is about finally deciding it is time to let go of someone from your past and move on with your life. I wanted a song with a "Semi-Charmed Life" kinda sound to be the lead off single and Stephen gave it to me. Thank you. Can't wait to hear thousands of fans at live shows whistling at the end (when you hear how the song ends you will understand what I mean).

10) The One *Pop/Trance/Dance*

-Pop/Trance dance track about keeping faith and hope that you will find your soulmate. I wrote it with Alan and David Guetta and DJ Guetta produced it as well. One of my faves and such a powerful, epic chorus. Amazing song. Uplifting. Fans will love it!

11) Let Me In Your Light *Acoustic Indie Rock/Cinematech*

-Almost acoustic indie rock type song with lots of claps instead of drums and lots of soothing harmonies from the group. Think Jason Mraz meets Simon & Garfunkel. It's about how much you love the positive and happy energy and "light" someone new has brought into your life and how you want to be apart of that and don't want to let it go. Great song to listen to in the morning when you're starting your day. I wrote it with Gotye and he also produced it.

12) Won't Go Quietly *Pop/Dance/Dubstep*

-A part of a guy's grieving process of getting over an ex can include massive one night stands and hooking up with random girls. Just sex, sex, sex, not looking for anything serious. For a time at least. We wanted to do a funny humorous uptempo track on the album that sorted poked fun at this stage of being single, but did not know what story to tell exactly with it. As me and Alan and our bassist Mike hung out and joked around one day we began to talk about how much fun going on tour for the first time will be this fall and some of the crazy things that might happen and Alan mentioned a funny story about how once when touring with his former band Left For Dead in Ireland he picked up a groupie at a show in Dublin and she would not leave his flat (apartment). She basically moved in and would not take the hint that he wanted her to leave. So we wrote this fun dubstep pop track about that one night stand girl that refuses to go home. She just 'won't go quietly'. Great song to party to with an awesome beat and super catchy chorus. I even rap a little bit in it. The ending is really cool as the last few minutes of the song totally switches into a totally different tune. Might be one of our UK singles. Can't wait to play it live. One of my favorites on the album. Alan and I wrote it and our DJ James co-produced it with The Matrix, great producers who have worked with everyone from Kelly Clarkson to Avril Lavigne to Britney Spears.

13) Don't Wanna Wake Up *Pop Ballad/Dubstep*

-This track is another one of my favorites. After the previous five tracks which were all totally happy and positive and fun, this song and the song following it are sort of a part one and part two and signify a 'relapse' if you will in the progress of a guy trying not to miss his ex. These songs are about those moments where you find yourself thinking about her and missing her again. The quiet reflective moments we all have in between a rebound relationship, a random hook up, or a serious relationship with someone new. You're single and thinking about what you lost. This song evolved in a strange way. It connects to the song that follows it since the beat is one long beat and melody that changes tones a little so we separated the lyrics into two different stories and two separate tracks. Pop meets dubstep is the best way to describe it. Sounds all soft and Justin Bieber-y before it drops into a dubstep jam then back again...and back again. Love it! Emotional song about how eveytime you're with a girl it feels like a dream that you don't want to end, although you know eventually it will. I wrote it with a great writer/artist named Shawn Desman and Swedish House Mafia produced it.

14) Lying In The Sun *Pop/Cinematech Ballad*

-A continuation of the previous track, but with some added symphony strings and guitar strumming, a slightly more airy, soft slower ballad like feel and pace, and no dubstep breaks. This song sings about remembering the times you had with someone and how you think you are over them and never think about them...until someone mentions their name. Memories come flooding back but you are proud that you will always have these memories of them. Happy memories that no one can ever take away. Again, written with Shawn Desman and again SHM produced.

15) Women Are A Hurricane (Featuring Rihanna) *Pop/Dubstep*

-One of my favorites on the album. Sexy, edgy dubstep sounding track about how dangerous, complex, and unpredictable women can be. Tells the story of an older man seducing a younger woman who thinks she knows it all and everything she puts him through. Kind of based on when I first met Mel and how she was pushing me away but intrigued by me at the same time and how I wanted to show her so many things. "You are 17 you have just begun" says it all. Katy Perry heard the track and thought Rihanna would sound great on it and little did I know the two are BEST FRIENDS. She called Rihanna up and within a week Rihanna recorded her part, making the song THAT much hotter! Swedish House Mafia produced it and I co-wrote it with Alley Vendetta and another songwriter named Ellie Goulding.

16) I Will Be With You *Cinematech Ballad*

-Gotye and I wrote this very child-like lullaby sounding soft ballad about telling someone that you miss that you will always be with them in spirit and you will always be there for them no matter what. Gotye also produced it. Very sad song but in a strange way, freeing and optimistic too. Not boring but definitely a soothing song to fall asleep to.

17) This Love Will Be Our Downfall *Cinematech/Indie Pop Rock*

-Cinematech at it's finest. Arguably the best song on the album. Might be a UK single Everything I feel about love is in this song. Everything I have learned about love and relationships is in this song. A lot of Mel's ideas about love, which at first were completely foreign to everything I USED TO BELIEVE, is also in this song. It is a song that is questioning love. Mad at it. Suspicious of it. Wondering if it is an illusion. A lie. A drug. Something we allow to control us and make us do crazy stupid life destroying things. A powerful song with a deep and interesting message I know fans will relate to. It closes the album because I feel after the journey this album took you through, starting with a track about realizing your are ready to date again after your traumatic breakup and long depression (track 1) to songs about a rebound relationship ruined by still being depressed and still stuck on your ex (tracks 2 and 3 respectively) to being single again and a sad song about missing your ex, everything you went through, how you met, and wondering why she had to leave (track 4) to reminiscing about how argumentative and dysfunctional that relationship was (track 5) to remembering how sexy that ex was and how hard it is to stop thinking about her and how hot she was (track 6) to wondering what you always did wrong to make her mad at you all the time (track 7) to optimistic happy songs about being ready to move on for real now (tracks 8, 9, 10) to a song about being addicted to the new found happy energy someone new is bringing to your life (track 11) to a song about all the fun of one night stands and banging random girls and how some might be crazy clingers (track 12), to not being satisfied with this type of promiscuity and wanting love again and thus thinking about your ex again (tracks 13, 14, and 15), finally being able to say goodbye to dwelling on your ex and wishing her well (track 16), and ultimately ending with this final track, track 17, a song about losing faith in love in general and not sure if you want to feel it again, but at the same time knowing we cannot truly experience life without it. I wrote it with Alley Vendetta and Ellie Goulding and our DJ James produced it.

18) (Bonus track) Somebody That I Used To Love (Reggae Remix)

-A reggae remix to the Katy Perry track.

19) (Bonus track) Why'd You Go? (Essex Dubstep Remix)

-A cool dubstep remix to one of my favorites on the album.

20) (Bonus track) Sunday Morning Apology
-Smooth funky jazz type track where I sing about saying sorry to an old girlfriend for being so difficult and hoping she forgives me and takes me back. Very soothing and relaxing song.

21) (Bonus track) Thunder

-A great cover we did of Fleetwood Mac's song "Dreams". One of my favorite songs of all time. I hope we did it justice.

The plan is to drop the first single (Lightning) in June/July. We will shoot the video for that this weekend before i head to Beverly Hills to film my appearance on Real Housewives next week. I plan to attend the Avengers premiere and then I head overseas to film Moneyball until mid August. After that we will be rehearsing like crazy with the band to go on a fall tour to promote the album. We are looking at a September 25 release date for the CD. We cannot wait to get out on the road and play these songs (especially since we didn't get to tour when we released the first album). Owl City, Sublime, 420, Secrets & Sunsets, and 30 Seconds to Mars will be joining us on the road this fall on the "Lights & Sounds" Tour. I am so excited to be on a tour with a band. I see myself as an actor first and foremost but I feel this music so much that this new role of frontman in a band is an interesting and beautiful challenge to me that I look forward to tackling. I love Alan (guitar), Mike (bass), Roman (drums), and James (DJ/keyboards) so much. There is no other group of guys I'd rather make music with and go on tour with. See you all soon and buy your tickets now before they sell out at the Lights & Sounds Facebook page HERE.

Enjoy the music and the films, and most of all, my ART! 2012 is going to be an interesting year! Love you all! =)

Yours truly,

The chameleon!